The Antagonists: A Novel About Masada

This is the story of one of the most thrilling of all historical events, the Roman siege of the Jews in the year 73 A.D., when two great antagonists, besieger and besieged, faced each other: the Roman General Flavius Silva, Commander of the Xth Legion and Procurator of Judea; and Eleazar ben Yair, leader of the 900 Jews still resisting the power of Imperial Rome and stubbornly clinging to freedom on the heights of Masada. For Flavius Silva, the problem is one of competing pressures - tactical, political, psychological - as his engineers work to complete the vast assault ramp that he must have before the onslaught of the summer's fearful heat, else the siege is doomed. He must endure the daily taunts the Jews hurl down from their precarious summit and the equally maddening orders from Rome, which demand immediate triumph. And he suffers as well the contempt of his beautiful captive, the Jewess Sheva, a woman armed only with the power to arouse his passion and, more dangerously, his love. For Eleazar ben Yair, there is the constant struggle to hold firm his people: the Priest and the warriors, Pharisees and Sicarii, the hotheads impatient for revenge, the meek counseling surrender. Each day brings the inevitable assault closer to its catastrophic conclusion as the ramp grows higher. Above all, Eleazar seeks the strength and the means to deny Rome her victory over the frail band of followers for whom he is the focus of hope and for whom Masada is the final outpost of integrity. In his magnificent evocation of Masada and the epic contest polarized around these two towering figures, Gann has worked out of the very center of his talent: moment by moment the reader is swept along in the building tide of military preparation, militant ideology and turbulent personal emotion that swirls around the antagonists as the novel surges toward its awesome climax. The legacy of purpose, courage and conviction that shines through this superb story remains a source of inspiration to this very day.